#It's listed April-March because of the Japanese school year

[djkibrit]

During Which Months Did Persona 1 And 2 Duology Take Place?

It’s well known among fans of the series that the later entries take place during an entire school year, however the same can’t be said about the earlier games. The only confirmed information about the time frame that P1 and P2 occur is the year, but dialogue present in these entries and the characters’ birthdays allow us to stipulate a more precise date of when they took place.

Before starting, it’s important to be aware of how the school year in Japan is divided (I’m not Japanese and all the information I got is from the internet. So if you are more familiar with the system, feel free to correct me or to just talk more about it): The academic year in Japan starts from April and ends in March, having summer vacation in August (normally going from July 20 to August 31) and winter vacation in the end of December to the beginning of January (normally going from December 26 to around January 6).

-Obs: All of the dates that I have just mentioned are related to 2023/2024. I wasn’t able to find anything about it in 1996 or 1999. So take them with a grain of salt.

Persona 1:

List of the main cast birthdays + their ages:

April 09, 1979 - Yukino -  17

June 04, 1979 - Maki - 17

July 11, 1979 - Mark - 17

August 18, 1979 - Reiji - 17

September 21, 1979 - Eriko - 17

October 02, 1979 - Nanjo - 17

December 24, 1979 (it's a complete nonsense) - Protagonist IN THE MANGA - 17

January 01, 1980 - Brown - 16

March 03, 1980 - Ayase - 16

Analyzing the age of the characters, it can be assumed that the game takes place at the end of 1996 since Nanjo is already 17 when it occurs. However, the birthday date of the protagonist in manga, generates some inconsistencies: if taking this date into consideration, the game would take place between December 24, 1996 and December 26, 1996 - since, after that, the winter vacation starts. It could be hypothetically possible for the game to only last two days, however, considering that there are two routes and that most people believe that P1 happened during a whole week, I’m ignoring this date. With this, we can conclude that:

Persona 1 Probable Time Period: Between October 02, 1996 and December 26, 1996

Persona 2 Duology:

List of the main cast birthdays + their ages:

April 09, 1979 - Yukino - 20

February 14, 1982 - Jun - 17 

May 04, 1982 - Lisa - 17 

June 13, 1967 - Baofu - 32

July 04, 1976 - Maya - 23

July 27, 1981 - Tatsuya - 18 

September 21, 1979 - Eriko (P2:EP) - 20

October 02, 1979 - Nanjo (P2:EP) - 20

November 15, 1982 - Eikichi - 16 

November 30, 1974 - Ulala - 24

December 30, 1973 - Katsuya - 25

-Obs: If you want to know why I only used July 27, 1981 as Tatsuya’s birthday while ignoring August 21, 1981 (present in the SMT Wiki) as a possible date, there’s this post explaining it.

Let’s begin with Innocent Sin. Besides the age of cast, there’s another variable that needs to be taken into account: when the Grand Cross happened. In real life, this event occurred on August 18 1999 and, while, in Eternal Punishment, many NPCs mentioned that the Grand Cross had passed during the summer, we can’t be sure if it happened during this specific date due to one small thing: rumors becoming true. It could be very plausible that the Grand Cross in IS took place in a different time because it was influenced by rumors, while, in EP, the actual Grand Cross occurred as normal. That being said, I’m using August 18 1999 as the day that this event happened (only because I can’t even think of another date) since I don’t believe that the creators would change it.

Well, we found out the period of when the game ended so finding when it began should not be that difficult, right?... Oh, is August 18 during the summer vacation in Japan? And are there characters attending class both during the beginning as well the end of the game? Well… things just got a little bit more complicated. 

In front of this adversity, I have two prepositions. The first one depends on the assumption that the summer vacation in Japan used to happen during a different time frame in 1999 than the one we have now. With that, we can guess that the game starts around July 27, 1981 since Tatsuya would already be 18. On the other hand, the second one regards the vacation period of 1999 as the same one as the one of now. In this hypothesis, we can guess that the game began some time before July 20 as well that the Kasugayama School Festival happened on the last day of class. Personally, I’m putting the latter just because the former’s time frame is also included in it. With this, we can conclude that:

P2:IS Probable Time Period: Between July 12, 1999 and August 18, 1999

Finally, we can get into Eternal Punishment! After the many contradictions present in Innocent Sin’s time frame (Nyarly would be proud), discovering when EP takes place is going to be way easier and this is only possible due to the main cast’s birthdays along with their dialogue. 

First of all, it’s been confirmed by the creator that EP occurred some months after the Grand Cross, more specifically, during the autumn 1999. With that, we can take a closer look into one dialogue said by Nanjo in Parabellum a bit before going into Mt. Iwato: “Ms. Amamo, he is still a minor. I do not feel it wise to bring him to this kind of establishment… NO, I’m not being tense!”. For those unaware, the drinking age in Japan is 20 years old. Based on that, Nanjo becoming tense could be interpreted as him being nervous since he’s just recently turned 20. With that, it’s possible to presume that the game takes place after Nanjo’s birthday.

Another series of dialogue to take into consideration are of Ulala’s. During the entirety of the game, she is always stressing out that she’s turning 25 soon which indicates that her birthday has still not passed. With this, we can conclude that:

P2:EP Probable Time Period: Between October 02, 1999 and November 30, 1999

And now, we can say that this analysis is finished! Remember that this is only a personal theory of mine, done only because I couldn’t find any posts exploring the subject. Feel free to discuss your own opinions on the matter and to correct any errors I’ve made.

[winterswhite]

Hey check out this spreadsheet I made of A3! age and height data

I may add more different kinds of data to it at a later date (I really want to make an appellation chart for one) but for now I thought this would be fun to share

I calculated ages assuming the ages listed on year 1 cards are as of April 1, 2017, because March 31st/April 1st are the end/start dates of the Japanese school year and when a lot of media bases ages on for that reason

[madara-fate]

Is Sakura actually older than Sasuke, or is it the other way around, is Sasuke older than Sakura? For a while, I’ve thought that Sakura was older than Sasuke by four months since their birthdays are only four months apart. But recently I’ve heard that because Japan starts their school year in April and ends it in March, and since Naruto is a Japanese Manga, it would most likely follow the educational standards of Japan right? This would mean that the eldest students of each year would be those born on April while the younger ones would be those born in March. Hence, because Sasuke was born on July 23 and Sakura was born on March 28th, that would make Sasuke eight months older than Sakura if you follow the educational standards of Japan. But would that mean that Sakura is the youngest in team seven since Naruto’s birthday is in October? I guess they are all pretty much around the same age, but I always thought she was the oldest.

Sakura is indeed the oldest member of Team 7. I see your point, but the Academy in the Narutoverse doesn't follow the same rules as in reality. If what you're saying were the case, then the rookies from their year who were born before April 1st (Shino and Sakura) should have graduated from the academy at age 11. However, all of the rookie 9 graduated from the academy at 12 years old, and the graduation takes place at the beginning of the year. I say this because Shino's birthday is January 23rd, and he graduated at 12 years old just like the rest of them, so that means that the graduation definitely has to take place on or before January 22nd.

So Sakura is indeed the oldest member of Team 7, because they were all born during the same year.

Besides, the databooks shed further clarity on how Sakura is older - The 4th Databook covers chapters 403 - 691, the latter of which is Naruto's birthday where he turned 17. Meaning this databook's time span ends on October 10th, and Naruto is listed as being 17 in this databook. If Sakura was indeed younger, the databook would have listed her as being 16, but she was also listed as being 17:

This means that Sakura was already 17 years old by the time Naruto had his 17th birthday by the end of the 4th databook, meaning that she is indeed one of the older members of the Konoha rookie 9. To further prove this, Hinata is listed as being 16 in the same databook, because her birthday is December 27th, and this databook's time period ends on October 10th, so her birthday had yet to take place:

If the Narutoverse followed the standard Japanese customs found in reality, then Sakura would have also been listed as 16 like Hinata was, but she was listed as 17 because the Konoha 9 were all born during the same year. So yeah, that's just irrefutable evidence that Sakura is indeed 4 months older than Sasuke, and is the 2nd oldest member of the Konoha rookie 9 behind Shino, while Hinata is the youngest one.

[yaminerua]

Duklyon doesn’t at first seem to have the same thing crop up as CSD and 20 Mensou does (with regard to the timeline seeming to pass through April when a new school year would commence and everyone should move up a grade) because within its story it doesn’t pass that April point where the grade should change. Based on the flashback to when Takeshi and Kentaro are first invited to form Duklyon, which is stated to happen in May, 5 months earlier, I think the bulk of the rest of the story takes place from around October to I presume late March because they’re still in the winter uniform and still stated to be in 1st Year by the last chapter that is set in the school before the timeskip epilogue.

The only point it gets messy is if you’re like me and try to plot out the total timeline for the CLAMP School series based on dated events we do know of in each of the series. When you insert Duklyon into the larger timeline that encompasses the other two series taking place in CLAMP school around the same time, it becomes clear that it takes place during the autumn to spring period, but before the turn of the new school year that should usually happen in April because they’re still stated to be in 1st Year at the end.

We know when it takes place because of other events that match up. As I mentioned in another post, both 20 Mensou and CLAMP School Detectives have a similar discussion on the planning of the Christmas party, so we know the events around that match up. But also not long after that there’s a scene in CLAMP School Detectives where Nokoru loses the creative plans for the school show and the Japanese on the document says デュカリオン vs 20面相 ‘Duklyon vs 20 Mensou’ if you look closely, which obviously is the same show that we see playing out in Duklyon, in which 20 Mensou kidnaps them so we know that’s happening at the same time as the Detectives are looking for the faculty list, which is presumably around January.

Bearing in mind that the overall CLAMP School series timeline starts in Summer (in 20 Mensou and the Duklyon flashback), moves into winter which is where CLAMP School Detectives begins, and then continues on through Summer again (where 20 Mensou ends) and on to Autumn of the next year where Detectives ends, it is clear that more than a year passes and there should realistically be a point where the characters move up a grade at the start of the school year.

But if that were to happen with Nokoru in 6th grade during the first half of this timeline, come April he should move into first year of the Junior High division which would split up the group! Obviously we don’t see that happen and everyone continues without changing grade and CLAMP weren’t too worried about the overall timeline. But I like trying to find ways to tweak things to make it work.

With that in mind, if we want Nokoru to still be in 6th grade for the second half of the Detectives manga, it makes sense to mess with the ages a little bit.

I propose having him be in 5th grade for the earlier parts of the stories that take place before April when the new school year starts, and having him move into 6th grade for the rest of the series so that it doesn’t split up the trio. Of course that would require aging Akira and Suoh down a year too along with him so that they’re all still in different grades.

However, as I mentioned before, we know Duklyon takes place over the autumn to spring period and presumably ends before the April new school year, so with my modified ages for Nokoru and the other elementary schoolers it would mean he’d technically be a 5th grader during that part of the story even though originally he’s written to be 6th grade.

Of course this is all just me having fun adjusting things to fit into a chronological clamp school timeline and it’s not meant to be looked at this closely;;;

[draco-flora]

So, I don’t remember who posted this initially, but it’s been sticking with me since I saw it like, a few days ago, maybe? Anyway, this person had mentioned something along the lines of getting into a certain fandom after the initial media had already existed for a few years. That really spoke to me in a way for a few fandoms that I am currently in or was in during the past. Here are a few examples:

How to Train Your Dragon (HTTYD) - the first book was published in the UK in February, 2003, and the first movie came out in theaters in March of 2010. I didn’t really get into the franchise until I saw a trailer for the second movie in 2013/2014. Therefore, I only really got into the series a whole 10 years after it started.

Steven Universe - First airing in May of 2013, I initially thought it was some silly kids show because I was in middle school at the time and thought cartoons and the like were for babies. Yeah, I said it. I used to think like that. Not anymore since I got into SU during my senior year of high school, which began the fall after Change Your Mind aired in 2019. That’s a whole six years.

Ensemble Stars - the only other fandom I can think of at the moment that I really got into after it had already been existing for a while. The initial Japanese release of the initial game was in April of 2015. I can’t find a release date for the sequel game, Ensemble Stars! Music!, but I was first introduced to Enstars only just over about a year and a half ago during my fall semester of college in 2021. Again, that’s six years from the date that I found Enstars was released.

It’s crazy how all of this media was released a long time before I really got into it, and I wonder what else I’ll get into. There are other fandoms that I haven’t listed here, such as Mo Dao Zu Shi and two fandoms that I’m kinda embarassed about, but ye.

Really makes you think, y’know?

[bnhaobservation]

BNHA Observations, speculations and assorted info: The facts taking place during BNHA first year

So, in order to write my fic, I spend much time observing canon scenes, comparing the manga and the anime version, take note of details, translations and info in them as well as finding out how are some things called.

Since what I noticed/speculated/found out can be of use for other fic authors I thought to share as well.

Resources:

Chapter 1. Midoriya Izuku: Origin (���谷出久：オリジン Midoriya Izuku: ORIGIN) Chapter 2. Roaring Muscles (うなれ筋肉 Unare Kinniku) Chapter 3. Entrance Exam (入試 Nyūshi) Chapter 4. Starting Line (スタートライン START LINE) Chapter 5. Smashing into Academia (はりさけろ入学 Harisakero Nyūgaku) Chapter 8 Rage, You Damned Nerd (猛れクソナード Takere Kuso NERD) Chapter 111. Smoldering Start (燻りビギニング Kusuburi Biginingu) Chapter 112. What's the Big Idea? (何をしてんだよ Nani o Shitenda yo) Chapter 131. Fighting Fate (抗う運命 Aragau Unmei) Chapter 144. Red Riot, Part 1 (烈怒頼雄斗① RED RIOT ①) Chapter 145. Red Riot, Part 2 (烈怒頼雄斗② RED RIOT ②) Chapter 153. Transform! (変身! Henshin!) Chapter 173. Prepping for the School Festival Is the Funnest Part (Part 2) (文化祭って準備してる時が一番楽しいよね② Bunkasai tte Junbi shiteru Toki ga Ichiban Tanoshī yone②)

Vol. 3 Bonus chap 2

Episode 1 Midoriya Izuku: Origin (緑谷出久：オリジン Midoriya Izuku: ORIGIN) Episode 2 What It Takes to Be a Hero (ヒーローの条件 HERO no Jōken) Episode 3 Roaring Muscles (うなれ筋肉 Unare Kinniku) Episode 4 Start Line (スタートライン START LINE) Episode 5 What I Can Do for Now (今僕に出来ることを Ima Boku ni Dekiru Koto wo) Episode 6 Rage, You Damned Nerd (猛れクソナード Takere Kuso NERD) Episode 59 What's the Big Idea? (何をしてんだよ Nani o Shitenda yo) Episode 67 Fighting Fate (抗う運命 Aragau Unmei) Episode 72 Red Riot (烈怒頼雄斗 RED RIOT) Episode 75 Unforeseen Hope (見えない希望 Mienai Kibō) Episode 83 Gold Tips Imperial (ゴールドティップスインペリアル GOLD TIPS IMPERIAL)

OBSERVATIONS, SPECULATIONS AND ASSORTED INFO:

You might notice a special focus on the Todoroki family as all their birthdays and statuses are listed. That's because this timeline was originally meant to focus solely on them and then I included info about the other characters.

LEGENDA:

Y1: The birthday was given during the first year of Todoroki Shōto at U.A. (Y1= year 1)

AB: The birthday was given before that character were to have his birthday that year (AB= ante birthday)

BNHA: “Boku no Hero Academia” manga.

TIMELINE (FROM THE BEGINNING OF APRIL TO THE END OF MARCH)

APRIL’S SECOND WEEK (BEGINNING OF THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR): Todoroki Enji (44) is still Number Two Pro Hero of Japan. Todoroki Rei is still hospitalized at Fujitani Hospital. Todoroki Tōya (22) is still assumed to be dead. Todoroki Fuyumi (21) might have already started being a teacher at Elementary school - Todoroki Natsuo (17) starts his 3rd year at High school - Todoroki Shōto (14) starts his 3rd year at Corusan Middle school.

ENTRANCE EXAM ARC

APRIL (LIKELY ON THE 1ST OR 2ND DAY OF SCHOOL): A giant Villain appears near Tatooin Station (田等院駅 Tatōin Eki). Nishiya Shinji/Kamui Wood (27) tries to stop him with his Lacquered Chain Prison (先制必縛ウルシ鎖牢 Sensei Hitsubaku Urushi Sarō) but, Takeyama Yū/Mt. Lady (22), who is debuting that day, steals the catch from him with her Canyon Cannon (キャニオンカノン). Midoriya Izuku (14) assists at the scene before going to school. 8.45 AM. At Aldera Junior High school (折寺中学校 Aldera Chūgakkō) the teacher points out how he should give future career forms but knows his students wants all to become Heroes. Bakugō Katsuki (14) let everyone know he'll apply for U.A. High school (雄英高校 U.A. Kōkō), planning to become the first in their school to be admitted in it. The teacher let the class know Midoriya too is applying for U.A. which lead the whole class to mock Midoriya, as he's Quirkless. 12.02 PM. In that same city (the translation says downtown but the Japanese test says 'Dōshinai' 同市内 which means "the same city") Toshinori Yagi/All Might spots the Sludge Villain as he runs away after stealing money. 3.31 PM. Once lessons end Bakugō mocks Midoriya telling him he can't dare apply for U.A. After school Midoriya is attacked by the Sludge Villain and saved by All Might who uses the Texas Smash (テキサススマッシュ TEXAS SMASH) against him. In an attempt to talk with All Might, Midoriya inadvertitely cause the Sludge Villain to escape and end up in Tatooin Shopping District (田等院商店街 Tatōin Shōten Machi), where he attacks Bakugō Katsuki (14) in what will become known as 'the Sludge Villain incident' (ヘドロ敵事件 Hedoro VILLAIN Jiken). Midoriya tries to save him spurring All Might into action, defeating the Villain with a Detroit Smash (デトロイトスマッシュ DETROIT SMASH) and having All Might later acknowledge Midoriya too can be a Hero even though he was born Quirkless. All Might will then tell him he will inherit his Quirk, 'One for All'. All Might will later inform of this his ex-sidekick, Sasaki Mirai/Sir Nighteye (37), ending up on arguing with him. This will lead Nighteye to take Tōgata Mirio/Lemillion (16) under his wing, believing him to be a better candidate to All Might’s power. Meanwhile Bakugō will completely stop tormenting Midoriya, whom he previously used to bully. [BNHA Chap 1, 131]

APRIL (2 DAYS AFTER - 6.00 AM): At Takoba Municipal Beach Park (多古場海浜公園 Takoba kaihin kōen) All Might trains Midoriya according to the 'Pass the test, American dream plan' (目指せ合格アメリカンドリームプラン Mezase gōkaku AMERICAN DREAM PLAN), by having him clean the beach. [BNHA Chap 2. 10 months before the entrance exam]

APRIL (3 DAYS AFTER): At Mt. Agency (Mt. 事務所 Mt. Jimusho) Mt. Lady is told she caused so many damages they’re in red. She inadvertitely turns giant and destroys her own agency. [BNHA Vol. 3 Bonus chap 2]

DURING THE SCHOOL YEAR: Aizawa Shōta/Eraser Head (29) expels his whole class and then reenrolled it. [BNHA Chap 7, 254]

SPRING OR SUMMER: At Musutafu private middle school (私立結田府中学校 Shiritsu Musutafu Chūgakkō), 3rd year Kirishima Eijirō (14) is impressed by the way Ashido Mina (14) uses to handle bullies. On the way back to school he sees her dealing with Gigantomachia, who was searching the Springer Hero Agency and scaring some girls who weren’t giving him directions. Kirishima feels bad because he couldn't move and comes to believe he can't be a Hero but, hearing an interview of Crimson Riot finds back his courage. So he decides he'll go to U.A. anyway, the following day apologizes to the girls he couldn't helpand to Ashido and start working hard to enter U.A. [BNHA Chap 144-145]

JULY 1: Todoroki Natsuo turns 18.

AUGUST 8: Todoroki Enji/Endeavor turns 45.

NOVEMBER: All Might realizes Midoriya (15) overworked himself. To respect Midoriya's efforts he changes his 'Pass the test, American dream' plan. U.A. School festival. Kenranzaki Bibimi wins the beauty pageant,Hadō Nejire/Nejire-Chan is the runner up. [BNHA Chap 2, 173]

DECEMBER 6: Todoroki Fuyumi turns 22.

END OF THE YEAR: Birth of Takagi Ken/Rock Lock’s kid [Age 0 Y1AB BNHA Chap 153]

JANUARY 11: Todoroki Shōto turns 15.

JANUARY 18: Todoroki Tōya turns 23.

FEBRUARY: Students submit school entrance application, examination admission card, and school report to the high school. [This is the month in which is usually done in Japan]

FEBRUARY 25: U.A. entrance exam, written portion, usually called Academic Achievement Examination [In Japan it's usually the day before the practical portion... though it can be it was after it]

FEBRUARY 26 (9.00 AM): Midoriya receives One for All then runs to take part to the U.A. entrance exam, Practical Skill Examination. During the test he can't make any Villain point but, unknown to him, totalize 60 resque points by saving Uraraka Ochako (15). Score for the practicals are out. Right after the test, Uraraka goes to Yamada Hizashi/Present Mic (30) and asks him if she can give some of her points to Midoriya but she's told it's unnecessary as the school has given him 60 rescue points. [BNHA Chap 3]

FEBRUARY: U.A. entrance test for recommended students divided into written part, practical test (a three-kilometer footrace) and interview. Todoroki Shōto places second after Yoarashi Inasa (15). Due to his behavior though, he makes an enemy out of Yoarashi Inasa who decides not to go to U.A. High School. [BNHA Chap 111-112. In Japan the entrance exams are all usually in February... We don't know if the recommended students had it prior or after the other students or in the same day but Present Mic is present to both so they take place in different times]

MARCH 5: Midoriya Izuku (as well as the rest of the students) receives the letter that informs him he’s been admitted to U.A. High School. [BNHA Chap 4]

MARCH (LIKELY THE DAY AFTER): After learing Midoriya and Bakugō passed the test their teacher congratulate with them. Bakugō angrily yells at Midoriya who refuses to let the other scare him. [BNHA Chap 5]

MARCH (AROUND THE MIDDLE OF THE MONTH OR AFTER IT): Graduation Ceremony for the award of graduation certificates. [This is when it's usually done in Japan]

MARCH (THIRD WEEK): Midoriya, who, like all the students, has to send to school his Quirk registry and bodily specification forms along with a request form so that a support company will create their Hero costumes, when realizing he has to go to the city hall to get his Quirk registry form, phones to All Might, worried because he's been registred as Quirkless and is told he will be allowed to update it. Moments later his mother, Midoriya Inko, gifts him with a Hero costume made by her. [BNHA Chap 8. Three weeks before the school start]

MARCH (END OF THE MONTH): Spring Break. [This is when it's usually done in Japan]

[aki-chan2014]

The SHSL Survivors' Society: Class 78 birthdays

I mentioned I would do this at the end of Scraps of the Past 10, so here it is. The numbers in brackets are the ages they were when they started at Hope's Peak-the ages I would have been given in the forms for each character. So, anyway, here it is:

Koutarou Ueda-20th April (17) Hibiki Kazama-6th June (17) Akira Kazama-6th June (17) Wakana Abe-21st June (17) Hokuto Nanto-7th July (17) Shiro Usami-23rd July (17) Hironori Nobunaga-28th July (18) Kimihiro Arata-3rd September (17) Erica Cain-31st October (17) Tyson De Guerre-11th November (17) Chieko Akamine-25th November (16) Hideki Inoue-19th December (17) Kanekatsu Iwafusa-21st December (17) Nobuyuki Oshiro-21st December (18) Daisuke Ueno-1st March (17) Yashiro Tsukishima-13th March (16) Noriko Edano-14th March (17) Masashi Kita-26th March (17)

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL

March 2021 Part 4

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. 

This is a LONG ONE, it’s been A WEEK everyone. 

Ongoing Series - Thai

Lovely Writer Ep 5 - a little slow this week, but at least Gene finally flirted back, and very cute flirting it was, too. Also we got Aey’s motivation, background, and love interest. Thank goodness for that. 

Brothers Ep 8 - still pants, what can I say? Clearly I am a BL masochist. Very embarrassing for everyone concerned. 

1000 Stars Ep 9 - the conflict over Tian’s father was REALLY well done. The plot of this drama is excellent, the leads are great together, and yes I totally cried. What, you didn’t? 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Word of Honor (China) Ep 16-18 - big battle fighty fighty stabby stabby. Ep 17 switches to “this drama isn’t big enough for two chaotic-neutral godlings!” So what do they do? Drink together and bicker... A LOT. Then in Ep 18 we all get the dubious joy of really freaky puppets. (I HATE puppets.) Also how is China letting this be so SO VERY VERY GAY?  Also, I wanna walk through the forest wearing a smanshy purple robe and waving a big fuck-off white fan around simply because I’m a pretentious fuss monger. And frankly, I feel like this is an achievable life goal for me. 

We Best Love 2 (Taiwan) Ep 4 - not gonna lie, this is looking to be one of my top 3 BLs of 2021. It’s SO GOOD. Big bonus to this ep for treating stalker behavior like the mental illness it is and not as some dumb representation of enduring love. 

The Most Peaceful Place is My Place (Vietnam) Ep 1 - finally dropped (find it under NƠI BÌNH YÊN NHẤT LÀ VỀ BÊN EM on O2′s channel). It’s got actors already comfortable with BL and looks pretty good so far. An angry tsundere uke reunited with his ex, a stoic chef, giving us lots of snap, crackle, and pop out the gate. 

Dear Uranus (Taiwan GL) Ep 2 - I want to love it, but it is just moving too fast. There’s not enough character dev and then they’re throwing flashbacks in? It feels like a treatment rather than a show, and a rushed treatment at that. Bummer. 

HIStory 4: Close To You (Taiwan) Ep 2 (AKA Ep 3-4) - let the cheesy popcorn continue! Idiot remains an idiot; ingenue remains an ice queen; nice gay guy remains nice and gay; obsessive stalker brother is getting ever more whackadoddle. Of course these last two have the best chemistry. (It’s caregiver codependency and the salvation trope. We got us a Leo/Fiat situation going on.​) Plus lots of classic BL tropes because OF COURSE there are lots of tropes. 

Occasionally, I am tempted to argue that shows like H4 or Cherry Magic or Ossan’s Love aren’t technically BL because of the office setting and age of the protags - but then they all behave like high school students anyway, so *shrug* 

Stand Alones

Cute little Taiwanese micro BL Friend or Lover dropped, about bisexual realization within a friendship group. Normally these are too short for me, but this one did pretty good with its 15 minutes of charm, plus it’s abad boy + shy softy pairing. 

Breaking News - Thai BL

Fish Upon the Sky released its actual trailer. The upside-down kiss is gone, which makes everyone sad, and it seems far less rivals to lovers than the first iteration, which makes ME sad. But it still looks good and a more classic BL than GMMTV has given us in a while. New trailer focused more on the makeover trope and they’ve upped Mix’s role (the object of everyone’s affection) now that he’s proved himself. (Or they are using him more to carry the trailer since he has a fan base form 1k*). Starts April 9 on GMMTV in 1K*’s time slot, probably with a 10 ep run. 

2gether the movie is apparently coming April 22 to Thai theaters. F4 Thailand must be having issues or GMMTV just wants to milk the BrightWin cash cow. It’s rumored to be a combination of 2gehter + Still 2gether with some extra scenes and ending. Also, one assumes a lot will be cut out, if it’s movie length.

Call It What You Want released its updated trailer. If anything, it looks more scary than before. What are we in for? April 9th. 

Nitiman got a release date, May 7 on One31. 

I Told Sunset About You 2 got an updated release date of May 27 on LineTV. 

Second Chance the series is coming to LineTV on March 29. I don’t know much about this one. Tons of familiar faces (mostly TharnType side dishes) and some nice looking new talent but a dearth of eng subs. I think it may take on Brothers’ time slot. Line did eng subs for Brothers so maybe they will do 2nd Chance too? 

Close Friend the series is coming April 22. This is a combination of 6 couples with 6 story arcs as music videos (maybe)? It’s an epic fan service with familiar faces like OhmFluke (UWMA), MaxNat (LBC also in Y-Destiny), YoonLay (YYY also in Y-Destiny), KimCop (GenY), and JaFirst (TT2).

Y-Destiny starts March 30, and has starting dropping couple’s trailers. I’m still suspicious given the director but it seems like there is plot (or plots) and a theme. Looks to be a series of 7 single ep vignettes (amended, see comments, might be 2 eps each for 14 eps total), different couple each time, some with supernatural elements, all with decent chemistry and acting chops. 

Sun MaxNat’s tutor/student arc

Mon jaded rich kid meets poor innocent  

Tues sports romance enemies to lovers 

Weds the messy realistic actual dating one 

Thurs hot ghost boyfriend (sad) 

Fri YoonLayPerth coping with loss and finding new love (sad). This one will all rest on Lay's acting so we know it’s in safe hands. Our boy is going to KILL it. 

Sat time-slip memory loss reunion romance 

I’m thinking we can’t expect any of these to end happy or be classic BL. They’re gonna be more slice of life-ish. 

Gossip - BL Outside of Thailand 

Scholar Ryu’s Wedding Ceremony AKA Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding (Korean historical BL) got a legit teaser (eng sub here). @curriculumvtae​ reports that it’s releasing April 15th on WeTV (Philippines & Thailand) and Idol Romance (South Korea), while Will of Thai Bl says it’ll be on Viki too. It’s a short run of 8 ep built on a fake relationship trope (arranged marriage variant):

Ryu Ho Seon’s (Kang In Soo from You Wish) arranged marriage turns out to be with his expected bride’s brother, Choi Ki Wan (Lee Se Jin from Mr Heart). Ryu tries to undo the marriage, but his ill mother opposes this saying the scandal would be too much. Meanwhile, Kim Tae Hyeong (Jang Eui Soo from Where Your Eyes Linger), a senior at Ryu’s school, comes to congratulate him and falls in love with Choi. Then one day, the original bride disappears.

Okay it seems a bit twisty turny for ONLY 8 EPS, but oh my goodness how excited are we? Our first intentional historical BL out of Korea!

We already knew Hong Kong was doing a remake of Japan’s Ossan’s Love under the same name (not my favorite Japanese BL but so very popular) but it’s now reported to be coming to Viu in June. Who knows how the CFA will take it. Depends on whether Hong Kong bows before the NO GAY KISSES regs or if they are going to use this as a political nose thumb... things could get cray with this puppy (the original has several kisses and s shower scene). Are we back in Addicted territory only with added comedy and civil unrest?

Speaking of Japan, Absolute BL (AKA Zettai BL ni Naru Sekai vs Zettai BL ni Naritakunai Otoko) dropped sooner than anyone thought, March 27. But being Japanese who knows how/when/if we get subs. Protag finds himself trapped in a world of BL, but being straight he fights against any hot guy that draws near, but the whole world (literally) is conspiring against him. It’s a parody adapted from a yoai.

What with Absolute BL from Japan plus Lovely Writer and Call it What You Want from Thailand, is 2021 the year of BL being ultra self referential? Sure feels like it.

In Case You Missed It

Faded a gay micro film from Taiwan from 2017 deals with parental acceptance and serves up a ton of BL tropes (piggyback, forehead kiss, etc). I’m pretty sure this was a propaganda piece for legalization of gay marriage, and it’s an interesting nugget of BL history as a result. Yes, it ends happy. It’s cute. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Some shows may be listed a day later than actual air date for accessibility reasons.

Upcoming 2021 BL master post here.

Links to watch are provided when possible, ask in a comment if I missed something.

Man there’s a lot going on right now! Spring has sprung... I suppose. 

P.S. I cannot believe I missed Absolute BL as a blog name. Numbnuts = me. 

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

UA School Headcanon stuff

While doing POTSOD I realized that the UA teacher stuff is very low. We need more teachers!

So- Headcanon time with me ranting about how I think the teacher system works for UA.

First though: random facts I know about the Japanese school system:

-The students clean the school (Other then bathrooms). This isn’t actually a law but it is a general practice.

-Japanese homeroom teachers move grades with the class.

-The school year looks like the following.

Second week in April: School begins

May 3: Constitution Memorial Day

May 5: Children’s Day

End of July through the end of August: Summer vacation

September 15: Respect-for-the-Aged Day

September 23 (or 24): Autumnal Equinox Day

October 10: Health-Sports Day

November 3: Culture Day 

November 23: Labor Thanksgiving Day

December 23: Emperor’s Birthday

December 25 through January 7: Winter vacation

January 15: Adults’ Day

February 11: National Foundation Day

March 21 (or 20): Vernal Equinox Day

Third week in March: School ends, and spring vacation begins

Rambly Collection of Headcanons and Thoughts about the above

I am making the decision- I ignore canon again because it doesn’t make sense.

So- you can fight me on the idea that the USJ happens like two days after their first day of school!!! It’s stupid!!

 Honestly- I’m thinking that it takes place their second week of school.

 I’ll give the battle trials cause All Might is a bad teacher or just one who is very naive about kids. Or who knows, maybe sparring is fine first…

 You know what. Yes. Sparring is fine first day of classes, and his choice to spice it up a bti was accepted by Nezu. Aizawa just thinks he’s a dumbass.

But anyway, back to my thoughts: I don’t think UA would have the students clean. Why? Because hero students have a lot of physical activity during the day, and then have no energy to clean, the support students are similar to. So it wouldn’t be fair to JUST have two courses clean. 

Also random thought: Scholarships are given to anyone who passes the hero entrance exam but cannot afford to go to school. This is provided by the teachers themselves and actually not related to the school. Because they all came from different backgrounds.

Staffing (Non Teachers)

Staff, in canon, goes like:

Nezu- Principal

Lunch Rush- Chef

Recovery Girl- Nurse

Hound Dog- Guidance Counsellor.

(Fun story: I was about to add Cece and then remembered that she’s fanon, not canon.)

 Due to the above, I realize that there really isn’t a lot of like… staff members, and it’s fine. I just think we probably have more. 

For instance, we need more counsellors than one person. So I propose that each course gets its own special one for each year.

 Meaning that there are 12 counsellors hired by the school with Hound Dog above them as the head counsellor.

Then Recovery Girl. If I remember right, she had people with her for Izuku’s surgery.

 So I say she has like four assistants. 

 Lunch Rush cooks everything by himself because I headcanon that’s his Quirk. Like the ability to make so much food for a school.

 But he does have kitchen staff who do the dishes and clean it. 

I however have a special idea about that.

Given UA accepts students from ALL over Japan and from all economic background, but as hero classes can leave students hurt or needing to miss a couple of days of work which is a no go for most jobs without lots of warning… UA hires students who need a job to work in the kitchen cleaning. 

 Similar as well to the cleaning of the school and landscaping. They have a couple of people who are overseeing them, but they hire students.

Librarian- they have three and then hire students to stock the shelves. 

 UA is allowed to do this because they are the top school, and because they take students from all over.

Then we have to have a secretary/receptionist and a vice principal

So- Staff List

Nezu- Principal

Vice Principal

Receptionist

Recovery Girl- Nurse

RG’s Assistants (4)

Lunch Rush- Chef

Hound Dog- Guidance Counsellor and Head Counsellor

12 Counsellors- one for each course and each year.

4 People who oversee Landscaping/Cleaning duties

Staff (Teachers-1A)

As Japanese home room teachers move with their classes, I propose that in UA each year has teachers also moving up. This is for bonding purposes.

 So, with a focus on 1A-

Aizawa- Home Room 

All Might- Foundational Heroics Teacher

Midnight- Modern Hero Art History Teacher

Present Mic- English Teacher

Ectoplasm- Mathematics

Snipe- Unknown

Cementoss- Modern Literature

Power Loader- Unknown, fanon says he’s Home Room for Hatsume’s class.

Thirteen- Special teacher

… That’s not enough.

Like- where’s science? Where’s social studies? Like what?

I like the idea Power Loader is the homeroom teacher for Hatsume so… he’s gone.

Snipe- I kinda like the idea of Snipe teaching social studies (That is teaching about current events and stuff) So there.

Midnight… I hate it. Modern Art- no. That’s… no. Just… It doesn’t make sense for a hero school to have that teacher. It just… it just doesn’t.

Heroic History? Yes. 

That still leaves Science. And Maybe heroic law.

 Thirteen is apparently a special teacher… I would like to propose though that they are also the science teacher simply because like why not.

 Also- with how Midnight does come in to help with Name, I now headcanon that the teachers pull double duty and work as specialists to.

As we are focusing ONLY on 1A, I don’t think they’d have more teachers then this simply because hero students probably don’t need a bunch of stuff- most of their time is spent training.

So- new list.

Aizawa- Home Room 

All Might- Foundational Heroics Teacher

Midnight- Heroic History 

Present Mic- English Teacher

Ectoplasm- Mathematics

Snipe- Social Studies

Cementoss- Modern Literature

Thirteen- Science

Heroic Law Teacher

UA School Week for 1A

Okay, so the normal time period for Japanese Schools: 8:30-3:15. Also- apparently Saturday school is no longer a thing in Japan unless it’s a cram school.

Which UA doesn’t allow their students to attend as they want their students to rest. 

But, anyway.

So…

8:30-3:15. 

Lets say each class lasts an hour and I think lunch lasts an hour to.

So: 8:30-9:00 Homeroom.

9:00-10:00- One class (English or Social Studies alternating days)

10:00-11:00 Second class (History or Science Alternating days)

11:00-12:00 Third class (Mathematics or Heroic Law alternating days)

12:00-1:00- lunch

1:00-3:15- Physical heroics.

That’s how I think the day is set up.

Except Fridays- which are either field trip days or are

8:30-10:00- Homeroom

10:00-11:00 Club activities or an elective

11:00-12:00 Club activities or an elective

12:00-1:00 Lunch

1:00-3:15- Physical heroics.

And that’s it!

Hope you guys enjoyed this.

[greatworldwar2]

• Doris Miller

Doris "Dorie" Miller was a United States Navy cook third class. He was the first black American to be awarded the Navy Cross, the second highest decoration for valor in combat after the Medal of Honor.

Miller was born in Waco, Texas, on October 12th, 1919, to Connery and Henrietta Miller. He was named Doris, as the midwife who assisted his mother was convinced before his birth that the baby would be a girl. He was the third of four sons and helped around the house, cooked meals and did laundry, as well as working on the family farm. He was a fullback on the football team at Waco's Alexander James Moore High School. He began attending the eighth grade again on January 25th, 1937, at the age of 17 but was forced to repeat the grade the following year, so he decided to drop out of school. He filled his time squirrel hunting with a .22 rifle and completed a correspondence course in taxidermy. He applied to join the Civilian Conservation Corps, but was not accepted. At that time, he was 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall and weighed more than 200 pounds (91 kg). Miller worked on his father's farm until shortly before his 20th birthday. Miller's nickname "Dorie" may have originated from a typographical error. He was nominated for recognition for his actions on December 7th, 1941, and the Pittsburgh Courier released a story on March 14th, 1942, which gave his name as "Dorie Miller". Since then, some writers have suggested that it was a "nickname to shipmates and friends."

Miller enlisted in the United States Navy for six years on September 16th, 1939. He did his recruit training at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, then was promoted to mess attendant third class, one of the few ratings open at the time to black sailors. After training school, he was assigned to the ammunition ship Pyro (AE-1) and then transferred on January 2nd, 1940, to the Colorado-class battleship West Virginia (BB-48). It was on the West Virginia where he started competition boxing, becoming the ship's heavyweight champion. In July, he was on temporary duty aboard the Nevada (BB-36) at Secondary Battery Gunnery School. He returned to the West Virginia on August 3rd. He was promoted to mess attendant second class on February 16th, 1941.

Miller was a crewman aboard the West Virginia and awoke at 6 a.m. on December 7th, 1941. He served breakfast mess and was collecting laundry at 7:57 a.m. when Lieutenant Commander Shigeharu Murata from the Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi launched the first of seven torpedoes that hit West Virginia. The "Battle Stations" alarm went off; Miller headed for his battle station, an anti-aircraft battery magazine amidships, only to discover that a torpedo had destroyed it. He went then to "Times Square" on deck, a central spot aboard the ship where the fore-to-aft and port-to-starboard passageways crossed, reporting himself available for other duty and was assigned to help carry wounded sailors to places of greater safety. Lieutenant Commander Doir C. Johnson, the ship's communications officer, spotted Miller and saw his physical prowess, so he ordered him to accompany him to the conning tower on the flag bridge to assist in moving the ship's captain, Mervyn Bennion, who had a gaping wound in his abdomen where he had apparently been hit by shrapnel after the first Japanese attack. Miller and another sailor lifted the skipper but were unable to remove him from the bridge, so they carried him on a cot from his exposed position on the damaged bridge to a sheltered spot on the deck behind the conning tower where he remained during the second Japanese attack. Captain Bennion refused to leave his post, questioned his officers and men about the condition of the ship, and gave orders and instructions to crew members to defend the ship and fight. Unable to go to the deck below because of smoke and flames, he was carried up a ladder to the navigation bridge, where he died from the loss of too much blood despite aid. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

Lieutenant Frederic H. White had ordered Miller to help him and Ensign Victor Delano load the unmanned number 1 and number 2 Browning .50 caliber anti-aircraft machine guns aft of the conning tower. Miller was not familiar with the weapon, but White and Delano instructed him on how to operate it. Delano expected Miller to feed ammunition to one gun, but his attention was diverted and, when he looked again, Miller was firing one of the guns. White then loaded ammunition into both guns and assigned Miller the starboard gun. Miller fired the gun until he ran out of ammunition, when he was ordered by Lieutenant Claude V. Ricketts to help carry the captain up to the navigation bridge out of the thick oily smoke generated by the many fires on and around the ship; Miller who was officially credited with downing at least two enemy planes. "I think I got one of those Jap planes. They were diving pretty close to us," he said later. Japanese aircraft eventually dropped two armor-piercing bombs through the deck of the battleship and launched five 18-inch (460 mm) aircraft torpedoes into her port side. When the attack finally lessened, Miller helped move injured sailors through oil and water to the quarterdeck, thereby "unquestionably saving the lives of a number of people who might otherwise have been lost." The ship was heavily damaged by bombs, torpedoes, and resulting explosions and fires, but the crew prevented her from capsizing by counter-flooding a number of compartments. Instead, West Virginia sank to the harbor bottom in shallow water as her surviving crew abandoned ship, including Miller; the ship was raised and restored for continued service in the war. On the West Virginia, 132 men were killed and 52 were wounded from the Japanese attack. On December 13, Miller reported to the heavy cruiser Indianapolis (CA-35).

On January 1st, 1942, the Navy released a list of commendations for actions on December 7th. Among them was a single commendation for an unnamed black man. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had asked President Franklin D. Roosevelt to award the Distinguished Service Cross to the unknown black sailor. The Navy Board of Awards received a recommendation that the sailor be considered for recognition. On March 12th, an Associated Press story named Miller as the sailor, citing the African-American newspaper Pittsburgh Courier; additional news reports credited Lawrence D. Reddick with learning the name through correspondence with the Navy Department. In the following days, Senator James M. Mead (D-NY) introduced a Senate bill to award Miller the Medal of Honor, and Representative John D. Dingell, Sr. (D-MI) introduced a matching House bill. Miller was recognized as one of the "first US heroes of World War II". He was commended in a letter signed by Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox on April 1st, and the next day, CBS Radio broadcast an episode of the series They Live Forever, which dramatized Miller's actions. Black organizations began a campaign to honor Miller with additional recognition. On April 4, the Pittsburgh Courier urged readers to write to members of the congressional Naval Affairs Committee in support of awarding the Medal of Honor to Miller. On May 11th, President Roosevelt approved the Navy Cross for Miller. On May 27th, Miller was personally recognized by Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, aboard the aircraft carrier Enterprise (CV-6) at anchor in Pearl Harbor. Nimitz said of Miller's commendation, "This marks the first time in this conflict that such high tribute has been made in the Pacific Fleet to a member of his race and I'm sure that the future will see others similarly honored for brave acts."

Miller was advanced in rank to mess attendant first class on June 1st, 1942. On June 27th, the Pittsburgh Courier called for him to be allowed to return home for a war bond tour along with white war heroes. On November 23rd, Miller returned to Pearl Harbor and was ordered on a war bond tour while still attached to Indianapolis. In December, and January 1943, he gave presentations in Oakland, California, in his hometown of Waco, in Dallas, and to the first graduating class of black sailors from Great Lakes Naval Training Station. He was featured on the 1943 Navy recruiting poster "Above and beyond the call of duty", designed by David Stone Martin. He then reported to Puget Sound Navy Yard at Bremerton, Washington on May 15th, 1943 when he was assigned to the newly constructed escort carrier Liscome Bay (CVE-56). He was advanced in rank to cook third class on June 1st. The ship had a crew of 960 men, and its primary functions were to serve as a convoy escort, to provide aircraft for close air support during amphibious landing operations, and to ferry aircraft to naval bases and fleet carriers at sea. After training in Hawaii waters, Liscome Bay left Pearl Harbor on November 10th, 1943 to join the Northern Task Force, Task Group 52. Miller's carrier took part in the Battle of Makin (invasion of Makin by units of the Army's 165th Regimental Combat Team, 27th Infantry Division) which had begun on November 20th. On November 24th, the day after Makin was captured by American soldiers and the eve of Thanksgiving that year (the cooks had broken out the frozen turkeys from Pearl Harbor), the Liscome Bay was cruising near Butaritari (Makin's Atol's main island) when it was struck just before dawn in the stern by a torpedo from the Japanese submarine I-175 (fired four torpedoes at Task Group 5312). The carrier's own torpedoes and aircraft bombs including 2,0000 pounders were detonated a few moments later, causing the ship to sink in 23 minutes. There were 272 survivors from the crew of over 900, but Miller was among the two-thirds of the crew listed as "presumed dead". His parents were informed that he was missing in action on December 7th, 1943. Liscome Bay was the only ship lost in the Gilbert Islands operation.

A memorial service was held for Miller on April 30th, 1944, at the Second Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, sponsored by the Victory Club. On May 28th, a granite marker was dedicated at Moore High School in Waco to honor him. Miller was officially declared dead by the Navy on November 25th, 1944, a year and a day after the loss of Liscome Bay. One of his brothers also had served during World War II. Miller was 24 years old at the time of his death. Miller's legacy continues in many memorials to his service. Doris Miller Memorial, a public art installation honoring Miller on the banks of the Brazos River in Waco, Texas. A bronze commemorative plaque at the Doris Miller Park housing community located near Naval Station Pearl Harbor; organized by the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and dedicated on October 12th, 1991, which would have been Miller's 72nd birthday. Even the U.S Navy honored Miller with the USS Miller (FF-1091), a destroyer escort (reclassified as a Knox-class frigate on June 30th, 1975) was commissioned on June 30th, 1973, in honor of Miller. Miller's likeness and story has also been portrayed in films, such as Miller being awarded the Navy Cross was portrayed in the 2019 film Midway. In Michael Bay's 2001 film Pearl Harbor, Miller is portrayed by actor Cuba Gooding Jr. Although he is not identified by name, Miller is portrayed by Elven Havard in the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora!

[tomyo]

A Vague Soul Eater Timeline Estimate:

TyI feel confused a lot when I see the characters listed as being 13 since a lot of elements don’t line up. Things like Soul riding a Harley (which are notoriously large and likely hard for a boy at the start of puberty to ride), Tsumugi (canonically 14) calling Maka senpai, and of course, the likelihood that the soul eater characters aren’t the same age. I saw a half finished draft pointing out some of these things but it began to become just a lengthy timeline. So as someone who’s obsessively documented this series for over 10 years, I thought I’d just explain the general time frames in Soul Eater. 

Warning: Long and full of spoilers.

First off, I always pictured the characters to start the series around 15 for various reasons I’ll get into later but in doing some extra fact checking, the wiki even cited Ohkubo saying Soul is 13-15. My viewing of their age is proto Maka and Soul in the pilot chapter look significantly younger than their standard design. While I doubt years passed between the Blair incident and Meeting Tsumugi on the stairs, I view their proto designs as 13 and their standard look as them at 15. Although admittedly there is a lot of information that can be contradictory as we will see.

Black Star is often headcanoned as the youngest but he is actually roughly a year older than Maka. He was brought to DWMA on the day she was born. The wiki says he was one year old but seeing as he was still unable to walk or talk, I’d guess it was closer between 6-10 months. 

Liz supposedly said in chapter 74 that she is two or three years older than BS making her around 17-19 at the beginning. I’m going to estimate low and put her at 17 for reasons. At some point I hope to find the original japanese text to see for myself just to verify if that’s what she said or if it was an embellished translation. Since Tsubaki has a similar figure to her, I would put her at the same age.

Patty is a little confusing. She’s called a Twin gun along with her sister and Japan still uses Onee/imouto even for twins based on who was born first, however Twin seems to more mean matching that literal twins in this use. Patty is probably anywhere between 14-16 but I’m going to stick with 16 because her doppleganger from B.ichi, Mana is 16 (Patty is also a bit taller than Maka which could suggest she is older.)

Death the Kidd has also been confirmed by Ohkubo to be 13-15 (which again I’m gonna place as 15).

So final thoughts before timeline listing, Soul Eater not is one of the most reliable pieces of info on the early Soul Eater timeline. Death City is in a monoseasonal climate which made it hard to identify how much time was passing but Tsumugi’s arrival fills in a LOT of details. She is 14 (a japanese middle schooler), arrives in Spring (Most likely April), Soul is still wearing a Gakuran(Boy’s middle school uniform) ONLY in the first episode (suggesting he was at the end of being middle school aged), Sid is still alive and Medusa is still around at the start but Stein shows up midway through the series, and her series ends on Halloween. I will push back the main kids’ ages back slightly for SEN. To also note, DWMA seems to most commonly take in students middle school aged an above unless there is a unique circumstance in cases like Black Star, PoT, PoF, and Angela. And finally, becoming a Death Weapon is rare and the info of Soul and Maka’s second time collecting 100 souls will suggest the minimum time progression from their first meeting to the Blair incident. 

So without further ado:

At 12/13 years old, Maka and Soul meet and pair up as a Meister Weapon pair. Both regularly wore a gakuran and the same sailor suit as tsumugi. Maka introduces Soul to Black Star who is a childhood friend and both meet his new partner Tsubaki.

Roughly one year before Tsumugi arrives, Spirit and Maka’s Mother (Who we will call Kami; her fan name from a misinterpretation) decide to get divorced. US divorces take about a year to go through and theirs finalized at the start of the first SE arc.

It was likely at this point Maka moved into an apartment with Soul since her mum left and the two seemed to have lived together for a while by SE not.

During the winter, Death offers Liz and Patty to become his weapons. Liz accepts wanting to provide Patty a better life.

Soul and Maka begin to to transition out of their middle school style uniforms as by a japanese standard, they would be considered high school aged now.

Soul Eater Not Starts

Age Estimates(Young-Oldest): SEN trio 14, Maka: 14 3/4, Soul 15, Dtk 15, BS 15.5, Patty 15.5, Liz 17, Tsubaki 17

Tsumugi discovers she is a weapon and moves to Death City in April. She meets her senpai Maka who is in the advanced class and who later gives a demonstration with Soul who is still wearing a Gakuran. Neither seem upset as they would have if they had recently encountered Blair. 

Between April and May, they loose the 100 souls they collected and Blair moves into their apartment. (SEN 4 references SE 4) A few days later, Black Star fights Mifune for the first time (Based on the Anime’s Prologues which better connect the stories).

Late April: Kim and Jackie become a Meister Weapon pair after Jackie learns Kim is a witch; they are possibly younger than the other main cast as they still wear sailor suits in the main series.

Mid-May: Eternal Feather is possessed by Shaula and is nearly killed but Stein stiches her back up. The main SE cast are likely not aware of Stein as Sid is still alive.

October: Shaula kills Sid.

October 31: Shaula attack Death City but SEN Trio kills her. 

Timeline Inconsistency: There is a timeskip at the end of SEN showing DtK, Liz and Patty becoming partners in Spring however they should already be a working team before the other’s remedial lesson. Specifically in the 2008 anime, Black Star and Soul notice someone (DTK) took a high level mission and ask a still alive Sid for information.

Kim and Jackie are moved up to EAT class.

Soul Eater Starts (Post prologues)

Age changes: Maka: 15; BS, Patty: 16. 6 months have elapsed since SEN.

November: Stein reanimates Stein. Soul, Maka, BS, and Tsubaki meet Stein during their remedial test who thereafter becomes their class teacher. BS and Soul attempt to fight DTK who is starting classes at DWMA. 

Maka and Soul fight Crona. Soul gets badly wounded and infected with Black Blood. Medusa who is unknowingly the witch creating black blood watches his progress in secret. While Soul is recovering Dtk and BS find Excalibur.

Winter: Tsubaki defeats her brother giving her a new power that BS needs to train to use leading to Maka wanting to also become stronger for Soul. Medusa briefly battles Eruka who becomes her unwilling servant. She sends Eruka to Free....Free. Maka, Soul, BS, and Tsubaki battle Free and defeat him after Maka and Soul overcome their issues and slightly awaken the black blood. Maka now is also infected with BB.

March: Year end exams more or less. Given the importance of the exam, it matches up with Japan’s placement exams.

Kid fights Crona while suspicion grows on Medusa.

March 31st: Shibusen founders party. Medusa ambushes them with only our 4 meister weapon pairs escaping. Crona is willingly captured after Maka befriends them and Medusa is ‘killed’, but the Kishin is ultimately revived and Stein is infected with Medusa??. Due to some confusing wording, a lot of people including myself mistake Shibusen’s foundation being around xmas. Realizing the actual date is the end of March, the timeline since Nov is a became a little more vague.

Age Changes: Soul, Dtk: 16; Liz Tsubaki; 18; 12mo since SEN; 6mo since SE

April: The death weapons convene in Death City. Crona starts school at DWMA.

Crona joins Maka and Soul on a mission to the Czech Republic where Arachne is reformed after 800 years. Giriko is also there and apparently just kept body stealing his kids for all that time.

Maka comes back temporarily paralyzed and BS fights Mifune a second time while seeking revenge. (We will diverge from the Anime now)

Joe comes to Death City for internal investigation.

A girl is possessed by Medusa. Crona becomes used to DWMA and Dtk puts on a part for them. Midway through the party, they are called on a mission. Kid is conflicted at finding Death’s name alongside the wizard Brew’s and Crona gets a visit from Medusa after leaving the party. Medusa tells Crona to spy and further worsen Stein’s condition. The Wiki points out that it’s May 21st based on a comment by Azusa. 

May 22nd: DtK fails to find the Book of Eibon.

May 23rd: Crona poisins Marie.

June: The 3 meister renaissance is formed.

The battle for Brew Occurs.

Maka finds out Crona is working with Medusa but doesn’t know what to do, Black Star fights Kid, and Justin Law, the shibusen traitor, kills Joe.

Stein and Marie leave to track Joe’s Killer, BS and Tsubaki take a break from shibusen to go to Tsubaki’s home, and Crona leave Death City for good.

Maka, Soul, DtK, Liz, Patty, and Blair fight some of the Kishin’s clown agents in Russia.

Medusa returns and bargains with Shibusen with her child host as hostage and giving the names of witches in Death City, including Kim who runs away to join Arachnaphobia. Arachnaphobia uses a brew tool to manipulate them.

An alliance between Medusa and Shibusen is formed to fight Arachnaphobia.

I want to make the guess that summer has passed and it is August/September by the Baba Yaga fight. 1. Because it seems like enough events have happened that 3months would have passed and 2. this would make the time skip start in spring which fits thematically (new arc, new team, etc).

The battle against Arachne occurs. Kim and Jackie are saved. BS kills Mifune in their final battle. Arachne is killed by Soul and Maka becoming their witch soul to make Soul a death scythe. Medusa transfers herself to her sister’s corpse and flees leaving behind a free Rachel. Death is captured by Noah.

Angela is taken in by Shibusen who plan to try and guide her away from the sway of destruction natural in witches.

 6 month timeskip, the main cast heals, Spartoi is formed, Justin is formally know as the traitor acquitting Stein of the murder, and Soul and Maka recollect 100 kishin souls thus officially turning Soul into a death scythe. 

Spartoi Arc Starts

Time Passed since SEN: 2 years; Since SE: 1year 5 months

Ages: Maka 16 3/4, Soul/DtK 17, BS/Patty 17 1/2, Liz/Tsubaki:19

Maka and Soul train with Kim and Jackie to utilize Maka’s grigori soul properties for flying. At the same time, Gopher, Noah’s devot peon, attacks intending to assassinate Maka. Maka ofc wins. 

Killik is sent to do reconnaissance on Medusa with Liz and Patty in addition to his Shamanic weapons. There he faces off against Medusa’s madness experimentations.

At the same time, BS and Tsubaki’s recon leads them to a memory erased Crona who they battle with. Eruka and Mizune come to retrieve Crona but Eruka is caught by BS in the end.

Also at the same time, Medusa who was overseeing both events through a crystal ball ends up in a three way battle with Justin and Tezca, the South American death scythe.

Maka and Soul who are still at school discuss how Soul has been getting even more partner requests lately. Only Maka seems aware that an underclassmen has been following them as well.

Soul and Maka witness Blair and the Chupa witches make their way to meet with Shinigami-sama about rescuing Kid followed by BS breaking in behind them to show off the captured Eruka.

Spartoi and Blair enter the book intending to save Kid. While I won’t go over it in its entirety, it’s worthwhile to point out that Giriko describes Maka as looking 15 or so (Something the fandom used often as Maka’s age). However, when he also believed she was new henchman, he said she was 7/10 years too young to be working there suggesting he perceives her as younger than she is. 

DtK gets consumed by madness and has a duel with BS. 

Crona starts spreading madness zones in Russia. Maka and Soul journey with Stein, Kim and Jackie but Soul is briefly taken over by madness.

Kid starts pursuing for answers on Eibon.

Crona kills Medusa.

Spartoi is given the order to kill Crona if found. Maka does a soul perception search but instead comes across the kishin on the moon.

Shibusen prepares for the battle on the moon while Maka and Soul continue to look for Crona. Very little time passes during the kid salvage arc and it seems to be summer when preparations are finished. I would presume since an airship was needed to be built, the final battle takes place around August. 

As Kid and the Death Scythes begin the battle on the moon, Spartoi joins Maka in finding Crona in Italy. Maka fails to talk Crona down who then heads to the moon with the intent to consume the Kishin.

Having no interest in killing Crona, the kids somewhat defect from Spartoi and head to the moon to aid in the fight. However, some of the fighters from the moon, including kid, return after struggling in their mission. Kid decides to gather allies with the witches in order to defeat Asura. 

Crona consumes the kishin and battles Maka while stripping her friends and partner. Maka uses Spirit instead and Crona becomes frustrated at being unable to disharmonize the two. Spirit explains their parent/child connection is too strong to be unsynced causes them to freak out and be overtaken by the kishin.

The meister weapon pair trio battles Asura, Kid reaches godhood, Maka and Soul go inside the Kishin to find Crona, work with them, and kill the Kishin as they rip through him. The witches protect the humans from the flood of madness that spills out and a new era of Shibusen/Witch alliance forms.

Chrona deadass infects the world with boob madness.

A funeral for Shinigami-sama is held the following week.

Kid’s coronation occurs where he announces the end to the war between Shibusen and Witches. We know enough time has passed that people became used to the black moon and BS has decently healed despite literally breaking every bone in his body but Marie hasn’t gotten her baby bump yet which comes in during the third month of pregnancy meaning probably only 2 months at most have passed. October makes sense for where the story ends.

Final main 7 ages (vague ideas): 

Maka: 17

Soul: 17.5

Black Star: 18

Tsubaki: 19-20

Death the Kid: 17.5

Liz:19-20

Patty:18

Total time since SEN started: 2.5 years

Total time since post prologue SE: ~2 years

Final thoughts:

Well, that took two long nights to write down. I tried not to give a tedious play by play and only put down the most essential of story details to help give an idea on time passage. It got progressively harder to detail time as sources started to dwindle from the manga timeline. I love the Spartoi arc so at some point I might go through that part again to reexamine some details. Japanese high school is only three years long so the idea of their story starting at Japan’s freshman age and ending around HS graduation seems fitting. One of the things that also occurred to me with the timeline write up was that Justin in concretely 17 when Crona briefly joins Shibusen, giving us someone to contrast against our cast. In this lovely breakdown we can see the growth spurt the main 3 guys go through but if you also look at their artwork in the later chapters, they also share similar slimmed features to Justin’s design. I will say, early on I was surprised how many time frame details I was able to pull out from the material. Soul Eater was always vague with the fine details but clearly some of us managed to pull out a lot from it. 

In terms of the soul collection, the second 100 souls required 2 years to get(1 soul/mission a week). Soul collection would theoretically get easier over time and experience but its hard to figure out with all the variables we saw like a major injury, an attack on the city, and the kishin revival. Then there’s also questioning how long it took Maka and Soul to sync up. While Tsumugi’s case is unusual, it took her 6 months to even partner up (though then they also flawlessly killed a witch sooo). Going by the middle + high school model for Shibusen, Maka’s efficiency and a less big world issues could possibly validate the idea they could get that far in 3 years. Applying that much time for the idea Maka/Soul are 13 would mean they started their partnership at around 9-10 years old which seems unlikely to me. Then again, Justin became a death scythe AT 13 so who knows. 

My last little thought is completely inconsequential but I see Maka as having an end of August birthday. The 23rd game to mind but I didn’t realize that was the switchover date from Leo to Virgo. Based on what google searches say about those signs, it feels fitting imo.

Well, congrats for making it all the way and thanks for hearing out my ramblings!

[shigures-house]

My new revised Fruits Basket character ages post

First: I am a massive nerd. I’ve been studying how old the Fruits Basket characters are for over a decade now. I’ve gotten things wrong and people have passed me additional information, so I’m always refining it.

Second: the characters don’t really have birthdays because it’s not important to the story. If it mattered, then we’d know the birthdays.

So, what I’ve put together is a mixture of canon ages, calculations based on relative ages, knowledge of Japanese culture, and a source that may or may not actually be canon, the 2001 Fruits Basket character book. As a source of character data, it has not been outright disowned by Natsuki Takaya, which is good, because the western zodiac signs given in that book are a crucial point in calculating these ages.

So, let’s just run through the birth years of the major characters, oldest to youngest and then go on to explanations:

1971 (Year of the Pig) - Hatori, Shigure, Ayame

1972 or 1973 (Rat or Ox) - Kureno

1976, 1977, or 1978 (Dragon, Snake, Horse) - Ritsu

1978 or 1979 (Horse or Sheep) - Akito

1980 (Monkey) - Kagura

1981 or 1982 (Rooster or Dog) - Rin

1982 (Dog) - Arisa, Tohru, Yuki

1982 or 1983 (Dog or Pig) - Saki

1983 (Pig) - Kyo, Haru

1984 (Rat) - Momiji

1987 (Rabbit) - Kisa, Hiro

I go into tiresome detail below the fold:

First of all, some base principles. Chinese zodiac years in Japan do not follow the lunar new year (typically in late January or February), but instead the calendar year. In Japan, December 31, 2019 was the last day of the year of the pig, January 1, 2020 was the first day of the year of the rat, whereas the year of the rat was not recognized in China until January 25, 2020.

Second, the Japanese school system: the school year starts in the beginning of April. Young children start first grade the year that they are six on April 1st. Thus, the first grade students that started in April 2020 will have been born from April 2013 through March 2014. Elementary school lasts six years. The kids start middle school when they turn twelve, then high school when they turn 15. By the time they graduate from high school, they will have all turned 18 (there can be exceptions, and one of those is applicable to this discussion, so stay tuned).

So: the Mabudachi trio. They were in the same school year together, and they were all born in the year 1971. We know this because Tohru mentions that Hatori is 27 years old in spring 1999, while Shigure is 28 in fall of 1999. According to the 2001 character book, Hatori is a Cancer, Shigure a Scorpio, and Ayame a Sagittarius. So, Hatori was born June/July 1971, Shigure October/November, and Ayame November/December. They are all year of the pig, they started elementary school in April 1978 and graduated high school in March 1990.

Kureno: tells Uo he’s 26 years old in the summer of 1999: he’s either born in the early part of 1973 or the later part of 1972. I prefer to assume the former. Kureno had not been introduced by the time the character book had been published, so we don’t know his western zodiac sign.

Ritsu: The character we know the least about, and that includes age. All we know is that they’re several years younger than their four older cousins, and they’re older that Akito, who is the series character they are most similar in age to. Unhelpfully, their western zodiac sign is Capricorn, meaning they could be born in December or January. Based on relative ages, I think the likeliest birth years for Ritsu are December 1976/January 1977, but they might be year younger than that.

Akito: While Akito’s exact age is not given, we know that they’re between Ritsu and Kagura in age. Being born in 1978 would make them 20 at the start of the series, and I think it is implied that Akito is legally an adult, which was 20 years ol at the time the series was published (legal adulthood is now 18 in Japan). Akito is a Cancer, so approximately June/July 1978.

Kagura is said by Yuki to be two years older than them. She’s a Cancer as well, so she was born June/July 1980.

Rin is the other zodiac member who had not been introduced at the time of the character book, so we don’t have a western sign for her, either. We do have a school year, however: she’s one year ahead of Tohru & co. (Kagura mentions accepting Rin’s graduation certificate on her behalf). Rin was thus born sometime from April 1981 through March 1982.

That brings us to Tohru, Yuki, Kyo, Arisa and Saki. Tohru mentions in the very first chapter that she’s year of the dog. She’s also a Taurus, so she was born in Late April or early May 1982.Yuki is a Virgo, so his birthday is late August or early September 1982. Yuki is said to be 10 years younger than Ayame--given that Yuki’s birthday is earlier in the year, that means Ayame would indeed have been 10 when Yuki was born, turning 11 a couple of months later.. Kyo (as mentioned in a 4koma comic published near the start of the series) is year of the pig. As he’s Capricorn, that means his birthday is early January 1983, thus making him the only character whose birthday we can narrow down to one month in one year.

Now Saki and Arisa represent a puzzle for us. First of all, Arisa is an Aquarius, which means a January/February birthdate. Given that she’s in the same school year as her friends, that would imply being born in January/February 1983. However, that contradicts one piece of information. When she finds out, in the summer of 1999, that Kureno is 26, she thinks “nine years age difference,” implying she is seventeen at the time, rather than the sixteen she would be if she were born in 1983. But let’s not forget that Arisa was a delinquent. It’s a very plausible assumption that Arisa could have been held back a year at some point because of her spotty school performance. So, I choose to go with the assumption that Arisa was born in January/February 1982, making her the oldest of her friends instead of the youngest. Finally, there’s Saki, who is an Aries, meaning that her birthdate in in March or April. And that’s when the school cutoff date is. So, she’s either March 1983 or April 1982. I choose to believe the latter simply for the sake of probability: Aries has more April days than March days. So, by my reckoning, the birth order of the 1-D kids are: Arisa first, then Saki, Tohru, Yuki, with Kyo being the baby of the group.

Haru and Momiji are one year behind Tohru and company in school. Haru is yet another Cancer, meaning he was born in June/July 1983. Momiji is a Pisces, so that puts him at February/March 1984.

Finally, the youngest two. Kisa is three years behind Momij and Haru in school. Like Momiji, she’s also a Pisces, meaning she was born in February/March 1987. Hiro, a Leo, is only five months younger being born in July/August 1987, but since that’s after the April cutoff date, he’s one year behind her in school.

Is some of this information incorrect? Almost definitely--I’ve been refining my character age list for a long time, revising it as find new data. And if the western zodiac signs are invalid, then most of this information is even more worthless than appears at first glance.

But it’s been fun putting it together. I welcome other researchers to make discoveries that others have so far missed.

[super-famicom-star-inactive]

Friday Special #14

March 19th, 2021

Hello friendos, and welcome back to another Friday Special!

So with the recent announcement of Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl for the Nintendo Switch as well as Pokemon Legends: Arceus, for this episode, we’ll be taking a look into the original titles of Pokemon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum for the DS and how they forever changed the Pokemon world.

The year is 2004.

The Pokemon movie Destiny Deoxys was just released in Japan and it’s the newest Pokemon movie to be released at that time. The Pokemon anime would  still be in Gen 3 (Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald) for a few more years. 

The film features a new Pokemon that was never seen before: Munchlax, who was the first revealed Pokemon for the next Generation, Gen 4 (Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Heartgold, and Soulsilver).

Munchlax wasn’t the only Pokemon teased before Gen 4′s release, however.

That following year in 2005, Lucario and the Mystery of Mew was released and it prominently featured several new Pokemon to the gaming public such as Lucario, Weavile, Mime Jr., and Bonsly. This now was five new Pokemon revealed to the gaming public. 

Then came 2006, the crunch year.

Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea was released and it introduced more new Pokemon in the forms of Mantyke, Buizel, Chatot and the Legendary Manaphy. Also revealed that year were the first of Gen 4 Legendaries Dialga and Palkia for the new games’ box art. 

In the end, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl were officially released in Japan on September 28, 2006, in North America on April 22, 2007, in Australia on June 21, 2007 and in Europe on June 27, 2007. Diamond and Pearl would also be the very first Pokemon games to be released in South Korea on Valentine’s Day in 2008, setting the precedent for future Pokemon games to be released in the region. 

Diamond and Pearl were the first Pokemon games not only to begin a new Generation but also on a brand-new console, the Nintendo DS. In order to capitalize on the new system of choice and its capabilities, Diamond and Pearl were the very first Pokemon games to utilize 2.5D graphics (the effect can best be seen in various objects like buildings and the train in the Great Marsh in Pastoria City). Speaking of sprites, new and never-before-seen trainer sprites were added as well to ever-growing list of types of trainers. The list of Pokemon expanded as well, thanks to the addition of 107 new Pokemon exclusive to the Sinnoh region. 

As the introduction goes for both games, you are greeted by Professor Rowan and you have the choice of either going as Lucas or Dawn, though the player does have the option to create their name for their chosen character. Their rival, Barry, also can be named by the player like in previous versions. 

The game starts with your character watching a broadcast about Johto’s Lake of Rage and its elusive Red Gyarados. You then meet up at Barry’s house, who is also your best friend in addition to being your rival, and the pair go off to Lake Verity to search for Legendary Pokemon. There, you are greeted by Professor Rowan once more along with his assistant and they accidentally leave behind their briefcase and before the pair can retrieve it and return it properly, they are attacked by two random Starly and the player has to pick one out of three Pokemon to fight them with and succeed. Once the battle is concluded, the assistant comes back to retrieve the suitcase, aware of the Pokemon being used and leaves the pair with their new chosen companions. Back home, the player’s mother gives them a pair of Running Shoes to traverse faster across the land and instructs them to meet with the Pokemon Professor in Sandgem Town. Upon arriving, Prof. Rowan bestows upon you the Pokedex, sending you on a quest to retrieve data for the Pokedex of every Pokemon in Sinnoh. 

Thus, the Adventure begins.

In the games, you face Battles, attain Gym Badges and work your way to defeating the Elite Four as well as the Pokemon League Champion. Along the way, you have to defeat Team Galactic, an evil organization who want to erase the entire universe in order to create a new, more perfect universe, and they need the power of the Legendaries in order to accomplish this massive and frightening goal. By defeating them, your home region of Sinnoh, and the universe at large, will be safe. 

Some of the features to make a comeback in a newer fashion was the day/night system first introduced in Gen 2 (Gold, Silver, and Crystal), Pokemon Contests from Gen 3 (Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Leaf-Green and Fire-Red) and even a new battle system which allowed for a more versatile set of moves for a Pokemon but ran into trouble with older fans as the attacks were now labeled as either physical or special instead of just by type alone. 

The pair of games were met with commercial and critical success upon release with particular praise being given to the soundtrack, story, the inclusion of Wi-Fi, the voice chat function. Unfortunately, it landed criticism with the graphics with IGN being quoted as saying “everything still has that Game Boy look to it” (Which in retrospect made the games more appealing as they still appeared timeless without looking too dated). Famitsu gave it a 35 out of 40. 

With this massive success, there was a growing need to continue the Generation.

In response, Game Freak created Pokemon Platinum, an enhanced version of the Diamond and Pearl. 

Pokemon Platinum was released in Japan and Taiwan on September 13, 2008, in North America on March 22, 2009, in Australia on May 14, 2009, and in South Korea on July 2, 2009. Like its predecessors, it also received high praise, and was both commercially and critically successful.

There were a few notable differences between the original Diamond and Pearl versions and Platinum:

On the TV in Twinleaf Town, instead of a special about the Red Gyarados, the special instead talks about Prof. Rowan’s arrival back to Sinnoh from Kanto. 

The outfits of the main characters change to be more suited to a colder environment.

Instead of recovering a suitcase in the forest and fighting Starly, you meet up with Prof. Rowan and receive your Pokemon at that time. 

The sprites of important Trainers (like Gym Leaders or the Pokemon League) have their own individual animations like the Pokemon do.

Instead of facing either Dialga/Palkia depending on the version, your Legendary Battle will be with Giratina instead and it will be down in the Distortion World (more on that in a moment).

Platinum also expanded on previously introduced features such as:

Allowing up to 20 people at one time in the Wi-Fi Plaza (it was only a few people before)

Allowing your starter Pokemon to be admitted into Amity Square in Hearthrome City (in Diamond and Pearl, only a select number of “cute” Pokemon were considered)

Players can now challenge other Trainers in certain Pokemon Centers (first game in the mainline series to do this)

Faster animations with HM Moves such as Surf and during Battles

to name a few.

In regards to new Pokemon, 59 Pokemon were added to the Sinnoh Pokedex, rounding the number of entries to 210, including Legendary Pokemon. Legendary Pokemon like Shaymin were also added and other Pokemon like Rotom were enhanced either with new abilities or new forms. 

So about that Distortion World bit from earlier...

For those unfamiliar, the Distortion World is only available in Platinum and it was how the player fought Giratina. The Distortion World level in particular was considered impressive at the time for the Pokemon community as it utilized 2.5D graphics that almost looked 3D.

How did they do this?

They allowed the character to move up walls in order to complete the current level as there were multiple levels. 

Here is a video of the entire Distortion World walkthrough (the video is a little gritty as it was published way back in January of 2009 and it’s the original Japanese version):

At this time, this was considered insane for Pokemon in 2008/9 and it was one of Platinum’s biggest selling points. Although it may look a little dated with today’s newer titles, this the was bridge that connected GBA-styled graphics to more modern 3D ones. 

So with that, Generation 4 was well underway and these games, as well as the ones that followed by the names of Heartgold and Soulsilver (a topic for another time), are still remembered fondly by fans to this day. 

Thoughts From The Head

When I first got into Pokemon, I got into Pearl, making me a Gen 4 kid. I have very fond memories playing this game with my friends back in elementary school as they either had Pearl like I did or Diamond. When Platinum dropped, it was the hottest game to get on DS and I remember everyone and their mother clamoring to get a copy of it. I never did because I was broke at the time, so I wound up having enough to get a copy of Soulsilver, which I just rediscovered the Pokewalker (remember those?). 

I remember the Distortion World bit like it was yesterday. A friend of mine had gotten far enough in the game to get to that point and I remember all of us crowding around behind him and glued to the screen as he traversed into this strange, new world. 

We were blown away to say the least. 

We also utilized the crap out of those Action Replay devices (which I used to max out both the Sinnoh and the International Pokedexes as well as the inventory), making the Champion Fight with Cynthia almost a breeze with the maxed out Rare Candies we had to boost the levels to Level 100 for the entire party. Now a couple friends of mine had managed to even hack the Platinum game to not get the special event Pokemon like Shaymin and Arceus without the special event in question, they were even able to clone Pokemon as well as steal other Trainers’ Pokemon outright with no issues (still not sure how they pulled those off). 

Thanks to the announcements of the Gen 4 remasters and a mutual of mine playing Pokemon Diamond for a YouTube stream via Desmune emulator, I rediscovered my Pearl game and now I’m currently playing my second run! As of this post, I am about to take on Fantine of Hearthrome City so wish me luck!

Here’s the photos of my copy of Pearl!

I was in the process of leveling up my Chatot so she ain’t looking too good right now.

So do y’all think about all of this? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Thank you for reading!

[az3422]

VIRTUAL YOUTUBER WIKI

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VIRTUAL YOUTUBER WIKI

Shirogane Noel



BASIC DETAILS

ORIGINAL NAME

白銀ノエル

NICKNAME(S)

Danchou (Party Leader)

Noe-Chan (3rd gen members)

DEBUT DATE

2019/08/08

CHARACTER DESIGNER

Illustration: Watao

Modelling: rariemonn[1]

AFFILIATION

hololive

MEDIA

CHANNEL

Noel Ch. 白銀ノエル

SOCIAL MEDIA

Twitter

bilibili

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

hololive.tv (English)

hololive.tv (Japanese)

PERSONAL DETAILS

GENDER

Female

AGE

18 (+ ２〇 months) years old

BIRTHDAY

24 November

HEIGHT

158 cm

WEIGHT

50.7 kg

ZODIAC SIGN

Sagittarius

EMOJI

⚔️

LESS 

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This is a Japanese name; the family name is Shirogane.

Associated pages

Noel (You are here)

Gallery

Discography

Platinum Collection Build Your Own Bundle. Choose up to 7 games

BUY NOW FROM FANATICAL

Shirogane Noel (白銀ノエル) is a female Japanese Virtual YouTuber associated with hololive, debuting as part of its third generation of VTubers under the name of "hololive Fantasy" (ホロライブファンタジー) alongside Usada Pekora, Uruha Rushia, Shiranui Flare and Houshou Marine.

Introduction Video



Noel's introduction. 【 白銀ノエル初配信】はじめまっする！白銀ノエルですッ！【ホロライブ 新人Vtuber】

Personality

Noel is a clumsy but mostly wholesome knight, with a more girlish voice than her appearance would suggest (though she can pull out a mature older sister voice if the occasion calls for it). Her character archetype is best described as having more muscle than brains; she often streams video games, but is rarely seen actually doing well in them.

Noel's thirst for Shiranui Flare is arguably matched only by Natsuiro Matsuri's thirst for girls in general. She gets jealous if Flare so much as interacts with someone else, and since Flare is somewhat of a chick magnet, this happens very often.

Profile

"Hey muscle! Shirogane Noel's here!"

While she is easy-going, she has a dangerous side where she attempts to solve all her problems with muscle power. As much as this fluffy, meatheaded knight hungers for power, she came to the world of VTubers where all the stronk people are, for training.[2]

History

Background

Her Twitter account was opened on 22 July 2019 while her YouTube channel was created on 26 July. She debuted with her introduction stream on 8 August.[3]

On 14 November, she announced on her Twitter account the debut date of her 3D model,[4] which later debuted during a stream on 17 November,[5] being the first of her generation to get a 3D model.

2020

On 1 January, her YouTube channel got demonetized, she stated on Twitter that this was caused because of her ASMR videos,[6] just like Haato, Choco, Aki and Mel.

On 2 January, she got a kimono as her New Year's oufit, being her second 2D costume overall.[7]

On 24 January along with the other hololive girls up to the third generation, she debuted her 3D idol outfit at hololive's 1st fes. Nonstop Story.[8]

On 31 January, she announced in her Twitter account the remonetization of her channel.[9]

On 16 October, hololive's Twitter account announced that Noel, Houshou Marine, Murasaki Shion and Yuzuki Choco would get new 2D costumes.[10]

On 21 October, Noel debuted her third 2D costume during a stream, a huge contrast compared to her knight outfit, she wears modern casual clothes, she wears black choker with a blue snowflake, a white blouse, with a brown squares skirt, black socks and brown shoes, she also debuted a new air style and as an option she can wear glasses.[11] In addition to this she also got her 2D model updated, with improvements to her facial expressions.[12]

On 5 December, she reached 700,000 subscribers, the 12th member of hololive to do so. On the same day, Nekomata Okayu reached that same threshold.

2021

On 21 January, she reached 800,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel, during an endurance singing stream.[13]

On 6 March, Noel reached 900,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel, during an endurance singing stream.[14]

On 12 April, Noel reached 1,000,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel, during an endurance singing stream, making her the 12th member of hololive to reach that milestone and the 9th member of hololive JP to do so. This makes her the fourth member of hololive Fantasy to reach that milestone as well.

On 31 May, Noel announced on Twitter what in the moment appeared to be a new 2D costume to celebrate World Milk Day.[15]

On 1 June, celebrating the date mentioned before, instead of getting a new outfit, Noel got new accesories for her casual costume, including cow's horns, ears and tail alongside a new set of clothes with a cow pattern and a cowbell.[16]

Discography

Main page: Shirogane Noel/Discography

Kirameki Rider☆▲as hololive IDOL PROJECT    Release Date24 February 2020Track List

"Kirameki Rider☆"

"Kirameki Rider☆" (instrumental)

External linksDigital Release • YouTube

DAILY DIARY▲as hololive IDOL PROJECT    Release Date21 January 2021Track List

"DAILY DIARY" (でいり〜だいあり〜！)

"DAILY DIARY" (instrumental)

External linksDigital Release • Music Video

Events

On 28 January 2020, it was announced on Dengekionline that she would made an appearance in the game Neptunia Virtual Stars as one of the VTuber guest characters alongside Tokino Sora, Roboco, Sakura Miko, Shirakami Fubuki, Minato Aqua, Yuzuki Choco, Inugami Korone and Houshou Marine.[17]

Fans

Her fanbase is officially called "Order of Shirogane" while in Japanese they are called "Shirogane kishi-dan"「白銀騎士団」.

Trivia

Her kanji, Shiro-gane「白銀」, means "white" and "money" individually and generally alludes to silver when put together.

On several occasions when pressed to specify her bust size, Noel has claimed that she is a K-cup. She has also jokingly stated that this stands for "Knight-cup". According to other members of hololive, her avatar's bust size is an accurate depiction of her true size.

She has a large appetite, indicating on several occasions that she enjoys extremely large serving portions when they are available. Fans have commented that this increased caloric intake makes sense considering Noel's height, athletic abilities, and impressive bust size.

Dissatisfied with her own singing ability, she works with a voice coach in hopes of improving her musical talents. According to Noel, her coach is particularly harsh and difficult to impress. However, after hearing Ookami Mio singing during the Toyosu PIT live-event, her voice coach remarked at how talented Mio was, much to Noel's dismay.

She has seen Kamen Rider Den-O back in her grade school days.[18][19]

During one stream, she mentions that during her school years, she was nicknamed "The Running T*ddy Cow", in reference to her large, absolute bust. As such, she is typically depicted around cow imagery and anything to do with milk, and on occasion baby bottles due to breasts maternal role in feeding. The fact that she has Shiro「白」in her name only strengthens this milky depiction.

She is the seventeenth hololive member to join the official Hololive Subreddit as a moderator.

On February 2021, she and Flare got custom made platinum rings.

External Links

Media

Noel Ch. 白銀ノエル - YouTube channel

Shirogane Noel's corporate profile on hololive.tv (EN)

Shirogane Noel's corporate profile on hololive.tv (JP)

@shiroganenoel - Twitter account

白银诺艾尔Official - bilibili channel

@shiroganenoel - Marshmallow account

Twitter hashtags

白銀ノエル - General

#ノエルーム - Stream talk

#白銀聖騎士団 - Fans

#ノエラート - Fan art

Further readings

白銀ノエル - Nicovideo Encyclopedia

白銀ノエル - Pixiv Encyclopedia

白銀ノエル - Japanese Wikipedia

白銀ノエル - unofficial hololive Seesaawiki

白银诺艾尔 - Moegirl Encyclopedia

Shirogane Noel - Hololive Fan Wiki



Solo Debutants

(hololive 0th Gen)

Tokino Sora (🐻) A-chan and Ankimo ·  Roboco (🤖) ·  Sakura Miko (🌸) ·  Hoshimachi Suisei (☄️) ·  AZKi (⚒️)

[winterbites]

Quicko thing I've seen about Yashahime

So, as a recent commenter and the general fanbase of InuYasha have said, the mother of Towa and Setsuna is theorized to be Rin. She's an obviously popular choice to be Sesshomaru's lover/baby mama. Honestly, I would be ELATED if she's confirmed canon as the mother but there are a few complications that need to be checked in order to reasonably explain the theory of her being the mother. Keep in mind, I'm not a guru of InuYasha and I'm going to be referencing mainly the anime canon for this. So, in the case that I get something wrong or miss something, don't mob my house and crucify me amongst my mint garden. With that being said, let's get into it!

So, right outta the gate is the obvious one: Rin's age as she's 11 years old at the end of InuYasha. The seasons never seem to change in the Feudal Era but we know it was spring when Kagome graduated high school and transported back to the Feudal Era. So, as we know that time in the Feudal Era moves at the same rate as the Modern Era due to the 3 year time skip, we can safely say it's fall during the Since Then chapter/episode. I'm not an expert in the Japanese school system but a quick Google search says Japanese high school begins in April and ends in March, so I'm just gonna assume I'm close enough. Anyway, we don't know Rin's birthday but, just for a best case scenario for the theory, we'll say Rin turned 12 during this time. The synopsis of Yashahime is that it begins "a few years after" Since Then and then time is skipped ahead by 10 years. The girls are 14 years old - 10 years + 9 months of pregnancy = they were 3-4 years old during "a few years after". If they were 3, then we'll just say they recently turned 14 as we're only counting the years and not the months or days. Now, in ye olde days girls were generally married off when they got their first period, and that usually happened when the young ladies turned 13-14 years old (due to changes in nutrients in the modern world's food, puberty and, thus, periods actually start earlier so that's why 13-14 years old might seem a bit old for it to start). With that in mind, I'm going to add a year to this Rin is the mother theory so that she can be 13 and become eligible for childbirth. Kinda weird to show a 13 year old as a mother but Miroku did have a 14 y/o girl beg to be his wife (Kagome commented on this as well) so it's obviously a line that Rumiko isn't afraid of crossing. Also, given that Miroku and Sango's twin daughters are 2-3 years old and Sango was a 16 y/o during InuYasha, Sango and Miroku were clearly married and got busy while she was still 16. This is Rumiko telling us that modern expectations don't mean shit in the Feudal Era; what we consider underage is overage in the Feudal Era.

Whew! I think that's the biggest one out of the way, so let's move on to genetics - phenotypes in particular (remember, genotypes have to do with genetic appearance and phenotypes have to do with physical appearance). Typically, children in the InuYasha universe look very similar to their parents. Sesshomaru is the spitting image of his parents: white hair, face markings (Sess takes after his mother in that category along with her pale skin) and golden eyes. InuYasha also takes after both his parents: Toga's tanned skin, golden eyes, white hair and (in his human form) Izayoi's black hair and eyes. We don't know what Kagome's father looked like but she does share many similarities to her mother in pretty much all phenotype categories. The only real difference between the two is that her mother's hair seems to be on the curly side while Kagome's (and Sota's) hair is more straightened, presumably a trait from their father. For an example from Yashahime itself, look no further than Moroha: brown eyes from Kagome, InuYasha's tanned skin, Kagome's (and technically InuYasha's) black hair - hell, she even got InuYasha's doglike behaviors (even if it was meant for comedy relief at most times). Setsuna and Towa though? They don't look a lot like Sesshomaru to begin with, let alone Rin. Assuming Rin is the mother, Setsuna has Rin's hair, Towa has Sesshomaru's hair, and both have Sesshomaru's pale skin; however, both girls have red segments in their hair and both have differently colored eyes, neither of which match their parents. Now, Setsuna and Towa are half-demons and, although we don't see a lot of half-demons in InuYasha, we DO know they don't always look like their parents. Case in point: Jeninji. Jeninji is...well, physically-wise, the general definition of a monster despite his father being godly in appearance along with a very pretty mother. The only other (canon) half-demon we've seen is Shiori, and the only things she got from her mother was her gender. So Towa and Setsuna, two confirmed half-demons, having physical features that match only one or neither of their parents? Fairly plausible.

Lastly is Rin and Sesshomaru's relationship and Sesshomaru's general relationship to the general human race. Sesshomaru fuckin hates humans, no ifs, ands or buts about that one; HOWEVER, there are a few humans that meet his exceptions. I'm fairly positive he only puts up with Kagome (she called him big brother at the end of InuYasha and no shit it looked like he wanted to kill her) because InuYasha loves her and I'm a firm believer that Sesshomaru cares for InuYasha more than he lets on. As I said in a previous post, Kohaku is on Sesshomaru's good list due to his efforts to protect Rin; I think the only reason Sesshomaru seemed to be harsher to Kohaku was because he was a boy and was expected to take care of himself (for example, Sesshomaru expressed annoyance at having to defend Kohaku and threatened to leave him to die but didn't follow through with it). Last human on Sesshomaru's 'this person is ok, I guess' list is, obviously, Rin. He loves her, no ifs, ands or buts about that either but we don't know what kind of love it is and we don't know where it could extend to as she grows older. When Rin died the second time, Sesshomaru cradled her body and probably would've cried if he was normal in literally any kind of way. When his mother (y'all ever realized that Sess's mother doesn't have a canon name?) revived Rin, Sesshomaru crowded her and caressed her cheek. As one of my dad's favorite songs goes, if that ain't love then I don't know what love is. The way Sesshomaru views Rin is never stated, whether explicitly or implicitly, and, in my opinion, Rin is too young to understand whatever type of admiration she has for him. Rin has stated that she wants to be with Sesshomaru for forever and Sesshomaru, who seemed to feel the same way, had obvious plans to retrieve her once she spent more time with other humans - but only if Rin wanted to come along. Also, lets keep in mind that Sesshomaru was reluctant to separate from her to begin with and he still visits her very often plus brings her gifts on each visit.

With half-demon daughters and his general hate for anything human, Rin is by far the strongest candidate to be the mother but we don't know what Sesshomaru is up to during his travels. For all we know, he could've bonded with some other human woman in the time between InuYasha and Yashahime. On a sidenote, and I know this is pretty stereotypical, but clothes (the type of gift he seems to leave her more often than not) is among the top 3 things you give to your boo to woo them (I especially say this 'cause even I enjoy clothes shopping) but that kinda depends on the person.

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: The Fantastic True Story of How Project A-ko Was Lost and Found

Disclosure: The author of this article personally contributed to the MADOX-01 Kickstarter project described later in the piece.

Thirty-five years ago, when Project A-ko debuted in Japanese movie theaters, no one thought they were witnessing the birth of an anime classic. Director Katsuhiko Nishijima jokingly claimed in the behind-the-scenes documentary Project A-ko Secret File that he helped create the film because he needed some cash to buy new teeth.

  The film, which is named after an unrelated Jackie Chan movie and which began production as an adults-only entry in the Cream Lemon series before transforming into a general audience science fiction action-comedy film we know now, would prove popular enough to spawn three sequels and a spin-off series.

    If you've seen the film, it's no mystery why Project A-ko earned its reputation as a milestone of modern anime with adoring fans both in Japan and overseas. And yet, the film itself was shrouded in mystery, because sometime after its video masters were struck from the original 35mm film elements, the reels containing Project A-ko vanished without a trace.

  This is the story of that discovery.  

  School Girls Head West

  In the United States, Project A-ko was originally licensed by the now-defunct Central Park Media, a New York-based film company run by John O'Donnell. CPM first published the film on VHS in 1991, and Project A-ko proved to be an evergreen title all the way up until its final CPM release on DVD in 2002. After CPM went out of business in 2009, Discotek Media announced the rescue of the license of Project A-ko in 2010, releasing the film and its sequels on DVD later in 2011.

  Project A-ko still has a huge fan following overseas, but for all its success as an anime classic, it has never received a high-definition Blu-ray release in the United States. Even Central Park Media’s final “Special Edition” DVD release was recorded off the laserdisc because the original film elements were presumed to be lost. When it came time to create an HD remastered release, the original 35mm prints of Project A-ko were nowhere to be found.

    As a result, when Discotek Media announced that they were bringing Project A-ko to Blu-ray in September 2020, they also revealed that they were using technologies called the Domesday Duplicator and AstroRes to try to capture the best video possible from the available sources. 

  According to Justin Sevakis, CEO of MediaOCD, Discotek’s Production Contractor, the Domesday Duplicator captures and digitizes RF signals from multiple laserdisc sources, which results in a cleaner image overall.

  “[Domesday] is a cool concept and very intriguing, but I think people got the wrong idea that this was some sort of game-changer in terms of restoring A-ko,” said Sevakis. “It definitely would’ve helped, but it only got us part of the way back to the condition of the original master tape it came from. Even if we had THAT tape, it was a video master from 1986, and still would’ve required a lot more restoration work from that point onward.”

    The initial plan was to take the Domesday Duplicator transfer to an engineer who then used AstroRes, a process that uses machine learning to estimate the original linework to create an HD signal of the original. “When it comes off the disc, it’s still a video transfer,” said Sevakis. “Even for an SD master, it’s blurry because it was made in 1986. If anything was the miracle process, it was AstroRes.” 

  When it comes to older anime, Sevakis says that missing film elements are the biggest challenges when it comes to preserving and archiving. “If we’re stuck with decades-old video masters, often they’re made in such a way that makes restoring them very difficult or impossible ... Sometimes there are also old analog video problems that make the image completely unacceptable on a modern 4K display. At that point, the best you can really do is release it in standard definition.”

  The Domesday Duplicator and AstroRes processes certainly made the most sense for the Project A-ko restoration Discotek was producing at the time. But soon enough, a simple investigation into an unrelated Shinji Aramaki title would prove otherwise. 

    The MADOX-01 Connection

  While Discotek Media began the Herculean task of reconstructing Project A-ko, a plucky little North Carolina-based distributor known as AnimEigo was breaking ground on their next Kickstarter-financed release: a Blu-ray version of Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01, an original animation video from 1987 directed by Shinji Aramaki.

  A one-shot story about a young man who dons a highly advanced prototype suit of mechanical powered armor in a quest to say goodbye to his girlfriend, MADOX-01 is a goofy story with a lot of humor and some exquisite technical animation.

  In fact, Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01 was the first anime title licensed and distributed by AnimEigo. In an interview included as a special feature on the DVD release, Robert Woodhead, the founder and CEO of the AnimEigo, recalled that originally he was given the option to license Project A-ko or MADOX-01, but he decided to go with MADOX-01 because he felt it had more “mainstream appeal,” a choice which he jokingly referred to as “the first of many terrible business decisions.”

    Flash forward to December of 2020, when Robert Woodhead of AnimEigo and Ollie Barder of Sola Digital Arts discussed securing the materials for a high definition Blu-ray release of Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01. This plan hit a snag: Woodhead had previously inquired about obtaining the film elements needed to make a MADOX-01 Blu-ray but was informed at the time that the original materials were not available.

  It seems the black hole of “lost films” Project A-ko fell into claimed another victim, but Woodhead was undaunted. In January of 2021, Woodhead made new inquiries with AMG, the company that acquired the rights to MADOX-01 from Pony Canyon. An AMG representative acquired a list of films being stored at the Tokyo Genzōsho film archives — “information that the previous contact person at Pony Canyon apparently didn’t have,” according to Woodhead — and the missing MADOX-01 materials were located.

  Tokyo Genzōsho, also known as Tokyo Laboratory and usually shortened to Togen, hosts a wide range of original materials from Japanese film producers in climate-controlled environments.  As one of Japan’s major labs, they offer a wide range of professional media services to the film industry.

    Found Footage

  During a meeting with the AMG licensors, Woodhead was shown the list of films stored at Togen. Much to his surprise, not only was Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01 listed but right next to it on the list was another title: Project A-ko.

  The long-missing film 35mm print of Project A-ko wasn't actually lost. The film had simply been misfiled and couldn't be located for decades as a result of a clerical error. “It wasn’t hard to find,” said Woodhead. “The problem was that there was a break in the chain of knowledge about the film’s location.”

    “We’ve been looking for Project A-ko for 20 years,” Sevakis explained. “Most professional film, anime included, is locked away in a giant climate-controlled warehouse, in this case, run by the film lab that developed it. According to their records, it wasn’t there."

  Due to Woodhead’s discovery, Discotek Media was able to request the archivists to make a physical search of the vault. When they did, they learned that Project A-ko “was there the whole time,” in Woodhead’s words.

    Happy Endings

  After Woodhead got permission to inform Discotek of his discovery and the missing film reels were found, Discotek announced on a Twitch stream in March 2021 that they were canceling their initial plans for the AstroRes remastered Project A-ko release and instead were producing a remastered Blu-ray using the newly rediscovered original 35mm print.

  And that's the story of how Project A-ko was lost and found: lost by accident due to a simple filing error, found through happenstance and serendipity, an anime classic rescued from obscurity for future generations of fans to enjoy.

    At the time of this writing, the restoration process for the Blu-ray release is well underway, with Discotek eliminating anomalies “ranging from dust and small scratches to flickering and jitter caused by the photography of the era,” according to Sevakis. While there is no release date currently set, if the sample footage above is anything to go by, Project A-ko is going to look and sound better than ever.

  As for AnimeEigo's efforts on MADOX-01, the company's Kickstarter for the OVA reached its $50,000 goal in 42 minutes after it launched on April 30, now sitting at over $130,000 as of May 4, 2021.

  “The film lab vaults are out-of-sight, out-of-mind for most of the companies in Japan, especially because at this point not many people deal with film on a regular basis,” said Sevakis. “The people dealing with the rights often don’t even have a clear idea of what’s in there, even if the records are correct! Who knows what else might be found?” 

      Paul Chapman is the host of The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast and GME! Anime Fun Time.

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By: Paul Chapman